This is definitely an announcement that Japanese scientists have been waiting for a long time. For the 2026-2030 period, the Japanese government is considering significantly increasing its budget for scientific research, the economic newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun revealed on Friday, March 13th. The proposed goal is staggering: 60,000 trillion yen (around 330 billion euros), double the threshold set by the government for the previous five-year period (2021-2025).
This figure is part of the “governmental strategy for promoting scientific technologies and innovations” which determines the archipelago’s policy for the next five years, as detailed by the newspaper. This will be adopted by the government by the end of the month. Although the amount of 330 billion euros is currently an “objective” and not yet integrated into the state budget, which is approved annually by Parliament, the Japanese press emphasizes that this announcement marks a turning point.
In recent years, Tokyo has faced criticism from scientists who have lamented the decline in state investments. “State support for fundamental research is insufficient,” regretted the immunologist Shimon Sakaguchi, co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2025, as cited by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. Since 2004, subsidies allocated to universities have been decreasing, leading to a sustained and structural weakening of Japanese research.
“Excellent news” for the scientific world
In the international ranking of the most cited scientific publications, “Japan, ranked fourth for the period 2001-2003, fell  to thirteenth place for 2021-2023,” notes science journalist Momoko Suda in her article published in Toyo Keizai. In this context, the Japanese government aims to restore the sector’s strength by targeting third place in the ranking by 2036, the journalist asserts. “From the perspective of the scientific community, it’s hard to find better news,” she rejoices.
More specifically, these funds will be invested in technologies related to artificial intelligence (AI), space exploration, and nuclear fusion. The idea is to also leverage the discoveries from these research areas in the military domain, as specified by Nihon Keizai Shimbun: “In this context, the government aims to promote dual-use technologies, to enhance the country’s security,” it concludes.
